CHAPTER 1: Awakening of the Bombing
EDITED 3rd Feb, 2018.
Death's POV
I watched as Rudy lay in his bed, asleep and sound. I was waiting for the last few minutes to pass before the bombs hit. It would be the poor souls living on Himmel Strasse that would be making my acquaintance tonight-after all everyone gets their turn, I do meet everyone once.
I'm not usually nice, it's just not me. Honestly what happened tonight had nothing to do with me. I stick around when there is war. Starvation is a common death too. I get bored sometimes. When I came across the pair of thieves on Himmel Street, I just couldn't help myself. I got interested.
Watching him, he slipped out of the bed he was sharing with Bettina. Kurt, Ann-Marie and Emma were beside them split between two beds pushed up together in the tight bedroom. He couldn't sleep – he was thinking of Liesel. The young teenager had something to tell her. Something he couldn't hold onto until morning.
Rudy out of his home from the front door and took a long stare at her house. He looked up at her window, but when a light caught his eye coming from another window. There was a window, narrow and small. It was usually ignored from the outside of the house, but now was the only light source outside. He lay on the ground beside the window and used his sleeve to work away the dirt that had froze to its surface. He saw Liesel and chuckled. "She's fallen asleep reading again." He thought to himself.
He sucked in a quick breath as the snow melted beneath him and through his pyjamas. He'd forgotten to find an extra layer of clothing again.
Reaching a hand up to the glass, lightly tapped on the window enough to stir Liesel of her light-slumber. No one sleeps heavily in a war during the winter. Her eyes scanned the room until they found yellow strands on a blue face and felt her heart settle knowing that it was just Rudy. She stood from the large paint can she was sat on, wincing as pain throbbed in her neck from the way she'd been hunched in her sleep. From the pain and her new-found embarrassment of being caught sleeping in the basement again, she frowned when she approached the window. "You scared the Hölle out of me!" she spoke with a harsh whisper.
"Can I come in?" He asked.
Her shoulders relaxed when her eyes found the heap of blankets under the stairs. "Ja, just be quiet." She replied.
"I thought Rosa was a heavy sleeper."
"Ja, but I'm not taking the risk. If she wakes up she'll murder you and I'll be the one never allowed to leave the house." Rudy laughed back. Liesel extended a hand to help Rudy slip through the gap of the window without injuring himself. From the distance of the window to the floor, he struggled to ease himself in as he was coming down head first. Liesel struggled to hold his weight as he tipped close to the ground, causing herself to be forced down with Rudy on top of her.
"He still hasn't come back." He whispered, checking over his shoulder to make sure the window was shut behind him.
Her eyes glanced into his, then found their gaze back on the ground, "Nein." She said simply with a shake of the head.
Rudy continued to lift himself up on his toes and back down again to bring back some warmth to his body. "Miss me Saumensch?" His voice raised cheekily in an attempt to change the subject.
"Shh! What did I tell you?" She yell-whispered. "Get off!"
"Sorry." He muttered.
She checked again that the window was shut and brought the lamp over from the back wall.
"It's freezing in here." He complained.
"It's better than being outside." She retorted. They sat under the stairs with the mound of blankets to relieve the bitterness of the cold floor, and propped themselves against the wall.
They caught each others stare and a deep blush rose to Liesel's cheeks-a combination of nervousness she felt and by the low temperatures of the basement. She smiled, and her eyes shot away to look at her hands in her lap. Rudy's eyes never left her face. She didn't want to admit it, but lately she knew she loved him. It became easy for Liesel herself to tell, as she found it harder to give Rudy a good comeback, and was lacking the feeling to leave him and found herself feeling more fear in losing him than she did happiness when she was around him. She felt frustrated with him so often, but was always overtaken by a warm feeling and a clench in her heart when their eyes met. He was breaking her strength.
Rudy smiled back, and they sat there in some silence, when Liesel said, "And you came here because?"
"I'm here to take you to school, what do you think Saumensch?" He smirked.
"Very funny Rudy."
"I couldn't sleep," He murmured. "I keep thinking about my papa." The street was still waiting on his return, alive and safe.
Liesel didn't reply, but instead stood up to relieve her aching legs from their position.
"What's this?" Rudy asked snatching her book.
"Give that back Saukerl!" Trying to reach for it back, but couldn't quite as Rudy was pulling away.
"Why can't I read it?" Rudy asked.
"Because it's not finished." Rudy stuck his tongue at her. Despite being close to fifteen years old, he still kept many child-like traits.
"Just the first chapter then." He pleaded.
"Fine." She gave in knowing she wasn't going to get anywhere with him; and gave up on trying to snatch the book away. She tossed another of Max's blankets beside Rudy and sat on top of it.
Rudy wrapped a blanket around him and Liesel rested her head against the wall, shifting further down to stretch out her legs. Rudy had a strong itch to speak to her, but those words that had been running through his mind all day couldn't find their way out. He began to read the book not speaking the words out loud. Liesel shut her eyes to keep the light out, concentrating on his breathing. The warmth of him being beside her made it a lot easier to fall asleep. She was waiting for him to say something satirical about her book, but she soon decided that Rudy was going to remain silent for the night.
As expected, I caught Rudy flipping the page onto chapter two, reading further to chapter 3-Liesel was asleep by now. He stopped on the second page to close the book and shifted slightly to lie down. He felt sickened by the misfortune Liesel had in her childhood, losing her family. He wanted to ask her where they were, but she didn't know either. Together they lay on the cold concrete, both of them sleeping.
Right now anything could happen... Perhaps morning came around and they endured the misfortune of Rosa finding them sleeping curled up together. Perhaps they aren't caught, and Rudy slips out of the window the way he came in unnoticed to anyone else. But instead, there was a bombing – and here I was. It was a miss read on a map – there were no sirens that night.
When Rudy awoke, his body ached, finding himself in a line of bodies. He tasted salt water on his tongue and found Kurt and Bettina either side of him. They lay there out of character. Their bodies were stiff and their clothes were singed. Next to Bettina was his mother. His insides swelled in twists and turns as bile rose to his throat. His lungs were screaming from the thick dust and smoke that made its way into his lungs, as he heaved over the chips of brick and concrete. He screamed his throat raw, yet not a sound came out between his coughing. He knew he was in a reality. He'd prepared himself for it for years.
"We have a survivor!" Someone shouted. His head shot up hoping the attention was on someone else and not him. He was hoping there was someone else.
It was not the case, they were calling Rudy. A LSE man helped him to his feet, then came many questions; "Wie heisst du?" What is your name? "Is there someone we can contact for you." their words became merged and broken, "-no survivors." was spoken somewhere in the LSE's words.
He stood over his siblings, arranged like the fallen dominos he'd arranged in his basement. There was a glance at his mother and a whisper "Goodbye." Rudy looked up to they sky, as if he could see me and said. "Oh Gott, Bitte let her be alive."
He would not believe her to be dead until he had found her.
His legs moved hastily while the rest of his body was wretched with physical and emotional pain. He whimpered her name like a child deprived of a warm meal. "I'm sorry, there's no one else." Another German spoke. The words creased his eyes as he struggled to stand. He stumbled on, adamant to find her.
He would not believe her to be dead until he had found her.
He looked over all the rubble trying to make things out. The remains of the homes and buildings were now unrecognisable. The street sign which once stood near her home was charred on a gathering of glass, meaning she shouldn't be found much further away.
"Get away mein Junge, it's too dangerous." A LSE man walked to me and said. "We've already checked this place, we've taken away the bodies."
"Where are they?" He commanded more than questioned.
The man began making his way down the hill of rubble as Rudy closely followed him. I am always taken aback by how gently they carry the bodies from streets, seeing how forgotten they are on the battlefields of war. The Hubermanns were found further along the mess as they searched on for the mystical blonde.